Nothing To Do With Arbroath

Thursday, November 24, 2016

While I decide whether to continue posting here or not. My health has seriously deteriorated over recent months, leaving me, amongst other things, breathless and in almost constant pain.

I'm also finding that the whole process is stressing me out. It takes an enormous amount of time sourcing and posting material here - upwards of six hours every day. Trawling through news websites with their often vile, repugnant views.

Other websites that appear to have been designed to be infuriating. With stupid surveys, pop-up ads, and embedded video adverts - sometimes two or three playing at the same time - before you eventually get to the story.

And that's not to mention the number of visitors. I suspect if I opened a Twitter account and posted a photo of my one daily meal, I'd get more views than I get here these days. I think that's the saddest thing of all. Anyway, as I said, I need a break while I decide what's best to do.

Police say a man from Panton, Vermont, was arrested following a dispute over beef stew.

At approximately 3:20pm on Monday members of the Vermont State Police responded to a family disturbance.. Upon arrival Troopers were met by Richard Marszalkowski and a woman who was later determined to be the victim.

Marszalkowki was found to be severely intoxicated, he later submitted to a Preliminary Breath Test (PBT) at which point he blew a 0.227%. Marszalkowki was placed under arrest and charged with Domestic Assault.

Police in Rexburg, Idaho, are trying to find a man who dressed up as a gorilla and burst into a Brigham Young University student apartment on Friday night.

Officers were called to Avonlea Apartments after the female occupants reported the incident.
“They were sitting at home when the gorilla ran through the front door and into the other room,” Rexburg Police Capt. Randy Lewis said.

“He knocked over a few things before leaving the apartment.”
Lewis said the students called the police because they were scared and investigators learned a similar incident happened at a men’s student apartment last week.

Unable to locate the bathroom at a 7-Eleven, a Florida man opted instead to relieve himself in the store’s walk-in cooler, where six cases of beer were allegedly defiled.

According to police, Daniel Colon, 46, entered the Treasure Island convenience store at around 7:30pm on Saturday looking for a bathroom. When that search failed, Colon opened a door marked “Employees Only,” a criminal complaint alleges.
He then entered what turned out to be the 7-Eleven’s walk-in cooler.

Colon then began urinating on “several cases of beer.” A store employee who had spotted Colon entering the cooler confronted him and told him to stop. Colon then left the store and drove away.
Colon, officers reported, “urinated over 6 cases of Busch Light,” causing the store a loss of nearly $100.

Colon was subsequently arrested after his vehicle was pulled over by police searching for the 7-Eleven suspect. In addition to criminal mischief and burglary charges stemming from the cooler urination, Colon was also charged with drunk driving.
After being read his rights, Colon reportedly told police he “could not find the bathroom so he entered the walk-in cooler.”
Colon, a Tampa resident, is locked up in lieu of $3,250 bond.

Police in Wodonga, Victoria, Australia,are working on a case they are hoping to get to the bottom of.
Officers were baffled by a particularly unusual print detected on a glass door, after a break-in at the local community hall.

While the scene was being dusted for prints, a shape from a pantless bare bottom began to appear.
"He's going to have to throw his finger print brush out now I think," said Detective Sergeant Graeme Simpfendorfer.
Police in say it is thought the break-in occurred at the hall sometime on Friday night, when damage was caused by a fire extinguisher being set off at the property.

The thieves then returned on Saturday and stole a television. It is still not known exactly why the offender left the unexpected mark behind.
"They're having a joke, or they're actually trying to lean up against the door to break in, but I don't know why they'd do it pantsless," crime scene sergeant Shane Martin said.
The theft was reported on Sunday.

It is believed there were three offenders, thought to be in their late teens to early twenties.
Despite the unusual find at the scene, police have said in all seriousness a lot of damage has been done at the property and they are keen to get the television for the community hall returned. Wodonga is a town about 300km (180 miles) north-east of Melbourne.

At around 3am on Saturday morning police from Springwood in Queensland, Australia, were called to Woodridge.

Local residents had stopped the female driver of a vehicle whom they believed was driving whilst drunk.
One of the clues that tipped them off was the children’s swing set wedged onto the roof of the vehicle.

Police will allege the woman provided a breath alcohol reading of 0.188 per cent; almost four times over the legal limit. The 38-year-old female driver from Woodridge was charged with driving whilst under the influence of liquor and will appear in Beenleigh Magistrates Court on December 6.

A pensioner was sent a speeding ticket by police, who accused him of travelling at 42mph on his mobility scooter.
James Roberts was sent a notice of intended prosecution from North Wales Police despite the fact his mode of travel has a maximum speed of 8mph.

According to police the 74-year-old's vehicle was caught travelling at 42mph on the 30mph A5151 London Road in Trelawnyd, Flintshire on November 12.
Despite the fact the grandfather-of-one from Abergele has been laid up at home for six weeks having undergone triple heart surgery.
Mr Roberts said: “When I opened the letter, I thought it was a joke but I soon found out that it wasn’t.

“I’ve barely been out of the house these last six weeks, never mind going to Trelawnyd at that time of night.
My scooter has a registration number but it doesn’t have number plates on it so I have no idea what’s happened here.”
Mr Roberts got the battery-operated scooter 12 months ago when problems with his heart led to angina and left him unable to walk short distances.

GoSafe, the organisation which issues speeding tickets on behalf of North Wales Police said the blunder was down to an incorrect number entered into the system.
A spokesman said: “This issue appears to have been caused by an incorrect digit being submitted when the offence was processed.
As soon as the issue was brought to our attention it was immediately rectified.
The paperwork had been cancelled earlier today. We have issued a written apology to the gentleman. We apologise for any distress caused.”

A man has pleaded guilty to stalking actress Keira Knightley by making miaowing noises through her letterbox and bombarding her with cat-themed messages.
Mark Revill, 49, from Hackney, east London, bombarded her with letters and shouted through her letterbox, Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court, was told.

Ms Knightley, 31, suffered “alarm and distress”, according to the charge.
The incidents happened at the actress’s London home between August 1 and 22 October 2016.
Prosecutor Simma Khan told Highbury Corner Magistrates: “He made miaowing noises through the letterbox. He drew in chalk on the street an arrow pointing to her front door. He sent her music about cats on a USB stick. It was bizarre behaviour.”

The charge states: “The defendant pursued a course of conduct which amounted to the stalking of Keira Knightly and which knew or ought to have known amounted to the harassment of her in that attending her address on numerous occasions, making noises through her letterbox and sending letters and other communications.”
The court heard that Revill, a music composer, had stood outside her house for an hour without making contact on at least one occasion.

His lawyer said he was a music composer and merely wanted to promote that by getting the celebrity to listen to it.
Revill admitted to police that he was in love with her.
The prosecution said: "After putting letters through the letterbox and receiving no response he goes to the letterbox and miaows through it."
One letter had a picture of three cats apparently winking, the court heard.
The court heard the notes were handwritten with no stamps so were hand delivered.
Revill was remanded in custody and will appear at Highbury Magistrates' Court for sentencing on December 1.

A family returned home from holiday in Mexico with an unusual souvenir - a "highly venomous" orange scorpion.
As well as negotiating a 10-hour flight back to the UK, the 3in (8cm) arachnid somehow survived being put through the wash in Rochdale, Lancashire.

The family contacted the RSPCA after finding the scorpion "dying" following his washing machine ordeal.
Happily, though, he is now recovering at a specialist rescue centre.
RSPCA animal collection officer John Greaves said the family, who have not been named, "had no idea they had a little stowaway on board" when they packed their bags.

Experts believe the scorpion came from the Mexican desert.
"If it's an adult, then it's likely to be highly venomous due to its size and the conditions it would hunt in out in the wild," Insp Greaves added.
"It would require a very potent venom to immobilise its prey."
An RSPCA spokeswoman said she did not know the scorpion's species - or whether he had been given a name.

Kaley Ann Kunkemoeller, 24, of Stuart faces several charges including sale of oxymorphone, sale within 1,000 feet of a school and possession of drugs. She’s being held on $265,000, according to Martin County jail records.

Kunkemoeller was wanted on warrants surrounding the sale of drugs and was found hiding 50 miles south of Stuart in Boynton Beach by US Marshals Fugitive Task Force. She attempted to flee, but was arrested soon after on Friday. Kunkemoeller was also arrested in September for drug possession including the narcotic painkiller buprenorphine and drug paraphernalia. That case remains open.

A firefighter climbed onto the second-floor window bars and tied a rope around the elderly man's waist. Residents then used the rope to lift the man up to the third-floor balcony.
The elderly man was not hurt, according to reports.

A young man in Queensland, Australia, is either very lucky or extremely unlucky after surviving two painful encounters with snakes in three days.

The 18-year-old contractor was working at a property on Friday about 300km west of Rockhampton when he was bitten on his right leg by an unidentified "brown coloured" snake.
An RACQ CQ Rescue helicopter airlifted the man to Mackay Base Hospital in a stable condition.

Another rescue helicopter, with a doctor and care paramedic aboard, airlifted the man to Mackay Base Hospital just before midday.
The young man couldn't describe the type of snake to aircrew, only that it was "brown coloured".
"This incredibly unlucky fellow wasn't very talkative as he was in great deal pain when we arrived at the hospital on Sunday," an RACQ CQ Rescue crewman said.

A Scottish teacher claims staff should be allowed to swear back at schoolchildren who get potty-mouthed in class.
Gordon Cairns, a teacher at Govan High School, Glasgow, said swearing is part of students’ everyday lives, and they hear it while watching TV, in class, and from parents.
Mr Cairns said that in the past year kids had regularly sworn at him with impunity, including “f*ck you” and “poofy head”.
The teacher of English and forest school also revealed the mother of one pupil texted her son, calling him a “wee c*nt”.

Writing in an education magazine, Mr Cairns concluded: “Our education authorities should either have a policy of zero tolerance to abusive language or we should all agree that swearing in the classroom is allowed for all parties.
The current scenario where our only weapon is to say, ‘Don’t call me that’ is not enough.
Imagine teachers having the satisfaction of following suit – as well as allowing them to release the stress of being abused, it could also defuse the power of words, letting the abuser know that this language could be used by anyone.
Furthermore, the swearer might be less likely to use offensive language again, because they would know how it felt to be so disrespected.”

The teacher’s article was headlined; “F*ck it, let everybody swear in the classroom.” He added: “Not long ago, a pupil showed me a text message from his mother: 'U had better be back for tea ya wee c*nt.' So it is perhaps simply tilting at windmills to hope that being sworn at in the classroom can be brought to an end with some form of punishment.”
A spokeswoman for the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) disagreed with Mr Cairns’ suggestion.
She said: “Swearing is not acceptable in wider society and nor should it be in the classroom.
This would be for the employer to address in the first instance, in this case a local authority.
GTCS has clear guidelines for teachers in its Code of Professionalism and Conduct and we would expect teachers as professionals to follow these guidelines.”

A Glasgow City Council spokeswoman said: “These are the personal views of one of our teachers and expressly not the views of either his school or the council.
Glasgow does operate a zero tolerance approach to verbal abuse against our school staff and expect our young people to act in an appropriate manner at all times.”
Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association General Secretary Seamus Searson said: “On the odd occasion teachers do swear, they can be put in front of the GTCS, but there’s a need for common sense.
It shouldn’t automatically be a disciplinary offence, it does occasionally slip out.”
However, he added: “It is not appropriate for a teacher to use foul language. We’re showing the way students should behave and if teachers do it, youngsters do it.”

Police are appealing for information after a bowling green was vandalised with a 25 foot phallic symbol carved into the turf.
It's the second time such damage has been inflicted in a matter of weeks at the Pavillion Bowling Green in Corwen, north Wales. And this time the vandals also carved a game of noughts and crosses into the green.

Adrian Roberts, secretary of Corwen Bowling Club, said: “I was so disappointed when I saw the damage.
We have put so much effort into the bowling green, and the autumn remedial work-which includes reseeding and fertilising - cost us almost £1,200.
When I saw what had been done I went there and rectified the damage as best I could, and I doesn't look too bad now, but only time will tell.

“It's very difficult to gauge at the moment and we won't know until the spring how it will look. It is upsetting that some people don't seem to realise how much work goes into the bowling green and think it's okay to inflict damage like this.
In the summer months, the club offers free coaching to youths, and the door is still open for the people responsible to learn how to play the game rather than mindlessly damaging the facilities.”

A spokesperson for the Dee Valley Policing team said: “Unknown persons have entered the grounds of the Pavillion Bowling Green on Green Lane in Corwen and have drawn offensive pictures into the lawn.
The lawn has recently had a lot of money spent on its upkeep.
This behaviour is not tolerated.
We urge anyone who may of seen or heard anything to please come forward. Any information please contact North Wales Police.”

An award-winning artist from Dorset is painting a lifesize portrait of an elephant in a car showroom to raise money for anti-poaching charities.
Jonathan Truss is working in a car showroom in Poole solidly for four weeks to complete the 15ft tall canvas. He is believed to be the first person to paint a lifesize elephant artwork, which will go on sale once completed.

The idea behind the painting, titled Tusker’s Last Stand, stemmed from Jonathan’s many trips to Africa, where he has been lucky enough to experience ‘big tuskers’, elephants with tusks over 100lbs each, in their natural habitat.
Jonathan said: “In recent times the world elephant population has been decimated by man.

“Once a species you could count in the millions, now in desperate trouble. And now, incredibly, there are quite likely as few as just 30 big tuskers left, just 30.
If elephants are not protected, it is conceivable that they could be extinct within our lifetimes. Just think about that for a moment – that your grandchildren could only see an elephant in a zoo - how desperately sad is that?”

With an estimated 30,000 elephants poached illegally last year, approximately one every 15 minutes, Jonathan hopes the proceeds from the sale of the painting will provide support for independent charities working on the ground who help and protect both orphan baby and adult elephants.
The unveiling of Tusker’s Last Stand will take place on Wednesday, November 30, in the Mercedes-Benz of Poole showroom. There will also be a chance to bid on the finished artwork in a silent auction.